Faith Filled Family

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with Steve Demme

When faith meets everyday needs

had only been following Jesus fully for a year or so when I began reading biographies of earnest Christians such as Hudson Taylor and George Müller. When these men were in need, they asked God, and only God, to provide for them. Hudson Taylor was a missionary in China, far from his home and support team in England. One of his favorite passages was, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.” He was encouraged by George Müller, who cared for thousands of orphans. One morning, George had 300 children dressed and ready for school; however, there was no food. He asked the children to find their places at the tables. Then, he prayed. Soon, a baker delivered bread, followed by the milkman, and the children were fed and went off to school.

As I read these inspired accounts of faith, I was encouraged to try this manner of living myself. One fall, I was looking for a pair of work boots. I normally bought a pair each year and wore them in the fall and winter when the weather turned cold and snowy. Then, after they were broken in, I wore them as I painted houses in the summer. I did not have the funds to purchase a pair one particular year, so I decided to pray. Without telling any of my friends or family, I asked God for work boots.

That fall, my mom and dad were visiting me and wanted to see Gloucester. As we walked through the town, my mom wanted to go into a certain shop. I was standing in the shop, bored and uninterested, when I noticed a large wire-mesh bin filled with shoes, bearing a sign that read “Fire Sale.” My interest was piqued, and I wandered over to discover a pair of size 13 work boots. I did not see any damage on them and bought them for one dollar!! I was amazed and encouraged. God had heard my prayer and provided just what I needed. Those boots meant more to me than checks to China or bread for orphans. Even after I wore them out, I kept one as a reminder that God hears our prayers!

(Reprinted from By Every Word, 2024)

Learning to Trust God
as a Family

After Sandi and I were married, God began to fill our quiver. My first assignment was as an assistant to the pastor of a small church. Later, I was ordained and became the full-time pastor. The policy of our fellowship was that our family would be provided a place to live in the parsonage and money for our food and pastoral expenses. It was up to us to seek God and ask Him to provide for our other needs.

“As I read these inspired accounts of faith, I was encouraged to try this manner of living myself.”

We were now living a life of faith, as did Hudson and Maria Taylor, and George Mueller. We were now in the school of trust, living by faith and not by sight. We understood Paul’s exhortation to:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

—Philippians 4:6, ESV

We discovered that prayer invites God’s participation. When needs arose, we sought to bring them to God right away and commit our “way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act” (Psalm 37:5, ESV). When our oldest son was about six, he was anxious to have a bicycle. During our morning prayer time, we discussed this need and then committed it to prayer. As soon as we finished, Isaac asked when we were going to a yard sale. Our family had seen God wonderfully provide for our needs, and more often than not, it was via yard sales! We had to have a teaching moment to explain that while God often used yard sales, our faith was in God to provide, not a yard sale.

However, we did look for advertisements and found one being held nearby. We drove to the home and there was a yellow bicycle for $25.00. Isaac was thrilled and sat on the bike the rest of the time we were there, looking at all the other items for sale. We bought it, and that little yellow bike was the starter bike for all of our sons. We made sure to thank God for providing it.

Another way we have trusted God as a family is by praying before we drive. It has been standard practice in our home to pray for protection when we leave the driveway and “hit the road,” whether the trip is long or short. I am still here, so God has obviously answered these hundreds of prayers. One interesting benefit of praying before a long trip is that, as we pray for the journey, God often jogs our memory about something we have forgotten to bring, people we have forgotten to contact, or appliances we have forgotten to turn off. Once we begin to pray, it seems that God enters our thinking and directs our thoughts to these different items. It has happened many, many times.

Learning to Trust God
with Your Wealth

“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”

—Proverbs 3:9–10, ESV

One way to honor God is to commit to giving a tithe, a tenth or ten percent of all that we receive. In doing this one simple act, we acknowledge that all we possess has been given by God. Instead of saying, “I pay a tithe” or “I give a tenth of my income” I prefer to say, “I return a tithe.” This little phrase helps me remember that God is the author and source of all I have.

I recognize that there is no specific command to tithe in the New Testament. Neither does it specifically mention “thou shalt not steal,” yet that command is still valid. My personal conviction is that tithing is legitimate as well. In the eyes of the world, tithing is silly, for if you want more money, you should keep it or invest it. But God says that when you earn income, return a tenth to Him.

As we do so, He promises to meet all our needs:

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. And thereby put Me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

—Malachi 3:10, ESV

Trusting God and obeying His commands go hand in hand.

A homemade cardboard sign reading "GARAGE SALE" with a left arrow sits on the grass next to woven stools and pairs of shoes.

There is a curious expression in Haggai about pockets with holes:

“You have planted much but harvested little. You have food to eat, but not enough to fill you up. You have wine to drink, but not enough to satisfy your thirst. You have clothing to wear, but not enough to keep you warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!”

—Haggai 1:6, NLT

These people worked hard, but it was like they were putting their money into a pocket with holes. Their needs were not being met. In looking back over our family’s life, I can testify that God met our needs, but I can’t explain how. I just know that at the end of the year, we were not in debt, and God had provided our daily bread. That is living by faith. As we obey God and put our trust in Him, He knows how to plug the holes in our bag and bless our little pot of oil as Elisha did for the widow in 2 Kings 4. He takes good care of His children.

A close-up of a man with closed eyes clasping his hands tightly together in prayer or deep reflection.

Learning to Trust God
with Your Time

Another way God has called us to trust and obey Him is to carve out one day a week to rest. This practice is counterintuitive for those who believe that if you need more money, work longer and harder. However, in God’s kingdom, our first responsibility is to trust Him and obey His commands.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

—Exodus 20:8-11, ESV

There are two thoughts revealed in these Scriptures that are extremely obvious and often overlooked: work six days and rest one day, just like God did. You do not need to read the Bible in the original languages to understand this. Moses was the first to write this commandment, but it was God who first practiced it.

“And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.”

—Genesis 2:2-3, ESV

Working six days is an exhortation to diligence. Resting for one day, as God did, is a prescription for sanity and an excellent antidote to the culture of stress in which we live. God set the example. He worked for six days, and then He rested one day. As we have practiced this command, God has blessed and prospered the work of our hands, and our wages were not put “in pockets filled with holes.”

It is hard to measure how God did it, but He did, and does.

teve Demme and his wife Sandra have been married since 1979. They have been blessed with four sons, three lovely daughters-in-law, and six special grandchildren. Their fourth son has Down syndrome and lives with them in Lititz, PA. Steve has served in full or part-time pastoral ministry for many years after graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the creator of Math-U-See and the founder of Building Faith Families.

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